Athletics News

The Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks today announced the official name and unveiled the logo for their 20-year broadcast partnership which from this point on will be called the Big Ten Network.

The network, which was announced in June, will launch in August 2007 and will operate 24-hours a day, 365-days a year. The Big Ten Network will be majority-owned by the Big Ten Conference, while Fox will hold a minority interest in the new network.

"The announcement of the official name of the Big Ten Network and the development of the new logo will aid in creating brand awareness of our network nationwide," said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany.

The Big Ten Network is dedicated to becoming the destination for Big Ten fans around the country. Showcasing a wide array of classic-to-current sports as well as original programming produced by the conference's 11 institutions, it will be available to all carriers and distributors nationwide.

The Big Ten Network's first affiliate, DIRECTV, will deliver the Network through its Total Choice Package to subscribers at launch. In addition to traditional distribution through cable and satellite, select Big Ten Network content will also be available through alternative media platforms such as the Internet, iPods, cell phones and/or other emerging technologies.

"Plans for the Big Ten Network are rapidly moving forward, and we are excited about the launch of our new network's identity," said Fox Sports Networks President Bob Thompson.

In a joint effort to provide additional information to the public, the Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks will launch the Big Ten Network Mobile Tour this weekend. The mobile tour will visit Penn State University for the Michigan-Penn State football game and the University of Wisconsin for the Minnesota-Wisconsin football game.

The Big Ten Network Mobile Tour will visit member institutions throughout the 2006 football season as well as other athletic events in the winter and spring. The Mobile Tour features a branded gazebo and designated staff who will be providing information and updates regarding the Big Ten Network.

For more information regarding the Big Ten Network, visit www.bigten.org. A JPEG version of the logo is available with this release.

The Big Ten Conference is an association of 11 world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in student-athletes' lives and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. Big Ten universities provide in excess of $89 million in athletic scholarship aid to more than 8,400 men and women student-athletes who compete for 25 championships, 12 for men and 13 for women. Conference institutions sponsor broad-based athletic programs with more than 270 teams. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.

Fox Cable Networks (FCN), a unit of the Fox Networks Group, a wholly owned division of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS), includes 29 domestic programming services in which News Corporation holds interests. These networks collectively service more than 400 million television homes and represent one of the media industry's largest and most diverse groups of programming operations. FCN networks include FX, FSN and its 15 owned-and-operated regional sports networks; National Geographic Channel; National Geographic Channel HD; SPEED; FUEL TV; Fox College Sports; Fox Soccer Channel; Fox Sports en Español; Fox Movie Channel and Fox Reality. FCN also includes Fox Sports Enterprises, which manages interests in sports franchises and leading statistical information provider STATS, LLC.